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I tried it on PC some years ago, back when CGW gave away the full game on one of its CDs, and my experience was pretty much this:

Build up my dudes, start some research, shoot down a UFO, awwww yeah, visit the crash site, OMG all my dudes are dead.

I decided that it either just wasn't for me or that I didn't have the time to put into learning how to not my ass kicked instantaneously.

But I kept hearing all these rapturous stories about it, so I scavenged up an old PS1 copy and ripped it to my PSP. Unsurprisingly, my experience on the PSP was almost exactly the same.

This game is obtuse in a way that is simultaneously infuriating and strangely compelling. I want it to yield its secrets to me, but I have no idea how to proceed. It's like a relationship, for crying out loud! So this is my dating angst thread, but for X-Com. Please, help me to love this game the way you guys love it.

I know this is an odd thought, but what's the release date on X-Com? If there were ever to be a GWJer holiday, this would be it. I would take off work, no doubt, to have a holiday with you all somewhere online. A holiday of torpid, gaming bliss. And Rabbitinis.

A quick googling and checking of the Wiki reveals... nothing really other than 1994 for the original version and October 25 1995 for the PSOne version. Answers.com says UFO Defense was completed in March 1994. I think we're stuck on the actual original release date.

Just avoid Enforcer, X-COM + FPS = bad idea. Of the other games, the first one is the easiest - they ramp up the difficulty like a bastard on Terror From The Deep and Apocalypse. Just be warned, it's a weird and idiosyncratic game that doesn't invite you to love it - you start to like it long after you start playing when it begins to haunt your dreams. And there are no modern conveniences like words that tell you what the buttons do.

The first two are great, I could never get into the 3rd and the others are not worth your time.

Just delete "for the most part"; you're on the money with that assessment. The first is The Best Game Ever Made, the second is more or less just a remake with the difficulty upped in some ways, and I kind of liked the third, but never really got into it. I once tried Interceptor for about five minutes and was just bored, and, as for X-Com: Enforcer . . . well, let's just agree that that game never happened.

"I would be insulted if I could figure out exactly what it means."
--*Legion*

I actually prefer Apocalypse over Terror since Terror just made things harder, some types of missions were way too long for me and I came to hate the setting.

Apocalypse is different in that it allows a choice between turn based and real-time combat and I never could get into the turn based version if for no other reason than the stinking poppers (bi-pedal exploding speed demons). Also the scope of Apocalypse is mostly limited to the city you are in and so you go through buildings that are always the same - for better or worse.

I really liked/like Apocalypse and if you look back in this thread you'll see I was replaying it while others were playing UFO Defense.

The buildings were a lot more interesting in Apocalypse. I can remember doing missions with one map section the same as previous missions. But it never got to the point where I got bored of playing on the very same map. There were a couple repetitive ones like the corporate offices which always had a big staircase up into an atrium and stuff. And the UFOs always had the same layout. But they were the exception.

The variety of locations was just plain neat. I remember doing a mission in the senate building. Big open corridors, fancy offices. And this big stadium like-room which was obviously where all the senators sat and did politics. It even had a gravity lift in the centre so the speaker could float in the middle of the room. Right after that one I did a mission in a school. And the difference between that and the senate building was night and day. Corridors with lockers, classrooms, a gymnasium and a cafeteria were all represented.

In fact there are so many buildings, particularly on the higher difficulties, that you may never get a mission in some of them. A couple of buildings in the city are unique, like the senate building, the spaceport and the gravball dome. I think I only ever got one mission in each of those locations over at least 10 full games.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I actually prefer Apocalypse over Terror since Terror just made things harder, some types of missions were way too long for me and I came to hate the setting.

Yeah I hated TFTD too until I found a mod that made it bearable. It did all sorts of things, like randomize terrain and even generate random UFO layouts from scratch. Combining the terrain files from UFOD and TFTD so that you could play them in both games. It even had the option of adding each soldiers rank to their name as a prefix. Neat stuff.

It even fixed a lot of the bugs like the difficulty bug that either stuck everything on beginner or superhuman. But the biggest change gameplay wise was that it modded Gauss weapons to need no ammo. Just like the laser weapons in UFO Defence.

Argh.. damn you steam! I want to just pick up a copy of the first one, since my CD has gone the way of the dodo, but then I've got the complete XCOM pack and the 2K Games pack staring me in the face. Shame I can't afford them.

Me being lazy (potential filthy skimmer material here) and all, can someone point me towards a nice review of the gameplay of XCom (the first one, as it appears that it is unanimously acclaimed as the best)??

I know that it has been posted here before, but every time someone bravely asks about playing X-Com:UFO Defense for the first time and has no idea of just how awesome it can be, I just have to point out the best ever "Let's Play" X-Com forum thread I have ever read.

The author of this "Let's Play", has kept it going for almost 2 years. Full mission reports, screen captures, dialog between the characters that he names after forum members. Even asks and takes into account feedback from the readers of his threads on some tactical questions. Just great levels of emergent storytelling that the gameplay and design of X-Com is able to provide if you let it.

Chumpy_McChump wrote:

"When you can, you hit that like the fist of an angry god. It's not even for you anymore; you do it for us."

Meta T. Dust is already out of bed, wheeling around the corridors in a wheelchair, but the Doc's say it'll be week before he can wear boots again. We're all hoping that he'll be able to wear pants again before that, as the the hospital gown tends to ride up when he's pulling wheelies in the hallways.

I'm starting a new semi-ironman game in my spare time. Difficulty is only one notch above novice. Rules are I can't restart missions unless I lose half the contact team or Tamren dies (because I'm the perspective character). Saves are allowed in-mission if I have to quit early.

My mission losses in the early stages have been 1 man per. The first guy was a scrub. The second was a pretty good soldier named Ivan. He seems to have bugged out because when he got shot I got two messages. "Ivan is unconscious, and Ivan has bled out from a fatal wound". A couple turns later I got a message that Ivan bled out again... And when I went to check he had 2 bodies. Maybe he was a siamese twin?

So far Tamren got shot in the face through a window and received a flesh wound. Very lucky.

Then came a floater terror mission and I lost many guys to stupid mistakes. Giving everyone a flare is smart. Putting it in their hand when they all get off the bird is not. Walking around blind corners... Etc. Got the mid mark and I lost 5 guys, time for another go. As per the rules I have to redo the mission with a newly generated map, well see how it goes.

--

If you guys want to get someone named after you feel free to ask. No guarantees for survival. But I will keep track of your guy and how he fares. Include weapon preferences and role, pick 2 because spots are limited. Assault = door and UFO breaching. Medic = Medpack support and alien capturing. Sniper = long distance shots. Heavy = any and all heavy weapons. The skills of your character will hopefully be matched up with his role. But since I expect a a lot of attrition my hiring criteria is pretty loose. Anyone with 20 bravery or less gets the boot.

You may also ask to be a tank driver or fighter pilot. Though the slots for that are very limited. If your ride gets destroyed I'll roll a dice to see if you survive/eject.

If you find X-Com too old for you, then I highly suggest Silent Storm.

I too highly suggest Silent Storm. I'm going to suggest regardless of how anyone would feel about X-Com.

+1

I recommend Silent storm :Sentinels . The weapon stats are clearer in Sentinels and there is also a money system where you collect loot after battle for personal use or to fund your opperation. If the original game has 2 plots Axis(Germany,Italy Japan) and Allies (US,Britain,Russiia,France?!).

I also loved apocalypse played as RTS+pause (turn base is hard and take longer). You can raid anyone and steal their stuff with little to no consequence . The Alien lovers are usually victimized by deadly raids and bombardments.

Jagged alliance 2 is also great especially with 1.13 mod(lots of weapons especially sniper rifles). The game also has mortars and mustard gas ;).

an inspiring quote to fill this spot:
"Our words are free now it's a feeling you can't explain"...." Born as we are out of the revolution to be free. " Barak Obama in Noy Alooshe's remix

Oh mememe! I want to be a Heavy. Are there Sandviches in XCom? There should be. This will make up for my inability to even install the game since getting it in the holiday sale. Yes. Vicarious gaming for the win.